- Andrew and Catherine Campbell – Honda GL 1800
- David Greig – Triumph T’Bird 1600
- Garry McCurley – Honda VFR1200
- Steve Alford – Moto Guzzi V7
- Mike Kelly – BMW R1200RT
- Chris Dietzel – Kawasaki GTR 1400
- Hartmut Kehm – BMW R1200GS
- Kris Jirasek – Suzuki GSXR1300
- Michael Winters – Triumph Trophy
- Trevor McLeod – Yamaha FJR1300
- Ian and Sally Paterson – VW Jetta.
Don’t you just love those autumn mornings? A slight chill in the air, sun not so bright and the prospect of a ride before the supposed rain this afternoon. Perfect day for a chomp and chat to Barney’s at Bookham me thinks.
As our fearless president rode up to the bowser, all I could hear was the disco version of ‘I was made for loving you, baby” by Kiss screaming out his speakers, I knew it would be a fun if brief ride. After all, that’s what a chomp and chat is about right? – Mostly chomping ‘cause we don’t ride very far.
Despite the fact that a petrol tanker deliberately parked us in, (so maybe we were parked near his hose connections) the excellent skill of the riders ensured we got past him and onto the Hume for a jolly, up through the green countryside past Murrumbateman. We resisted an urge to pop into Yass for the Yass Show, and instead turned off the highway towards Bowning. The good folk of Bowning were obviously all at church because we did not see a soul as we rode though, so we then turned right on to Burley Griffin way until we met with the narrow Illalong Road which took us all the way to Bookham. I believe MW switched to Slim Dusty to show what eclectic tastes he has!!
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| Pie less but happy punters at Bookham |
For those of you that have never been to Bookham it doesn’t have a lot to offer other than a few hundred rusty old bits of farm equipment and of course Barney’s. Mr C as the ride leader had rung the previous day to let them know that a group of motorcyclists would be descending upon them after 11am. What he didn’t factor in is that the Wollondilly Wanderers Ulysses branch had just passed through and cleared out the pie warmer.
Never-the-less they managed to deal with our numbers, although there did seem to be some confusion with the number of lamb burgers and BLT’s, flat whites and mocha somethings. Luckily Ian and Sally P arrived via car and managed to sort out all the spares. The usual tall tales were told and then people started to head for home as the clouds were looking a bit more ominous.
Just as the last group of us were readying to leave, a car pulls up and who steps out but Denis Paulin – National Pres. Was this coincidence??? Or had he heard from the Wollondilly Wanderers via Ulysses telepathy that the pies were good – just in time for the new lot to heat up. It’s not like Bookham is a tourist mecca. I’ll leave that conclusion to you dear reader!
Managed to get home with just a few spots on the visor – bike washed and put away all before 2pm!
Catherine Campbell
